Kelly Claes

Kelly Claes is a beach volleyball player from the US. Together with her teammate Sara Hughes, the duo won bronze at the 2013 U-19 World Championships, silver at the 2014 U-21 World Championships, and in both 2016 and 2017, they continued to compete in back-to-back NCAA Championships.

In 2014, Claes started playing volleyball with partner Alexa Strange at the University of Southern California. During her sophomore year, she reunited with Hughes and went on to win the AVCA Pairs National Championship, with Claes acquiring the well-deserved 2015 AVCA All-American title. During their junior and senior years Claes and Hughes led the USC Trojans through many NCAA Championships. In 2016, Claes was awarded with the inaugural Pac-12 Player of the Year title and together with
Hughes they won the Pac-12 Pairs Championship and the Pac-12 Pair of the Year award.

Claes graduated from University in 2017 and in her first year playing professionally, she and Hughes won their debut AVP Gold Series Championships in Chicago, simultaneously becoming the youngest pair to win an AVP event. Claes and Hughes parted ways in early 2018 and Claes found a new teammate in Sarah Sponcil. They wasted no time in finding success, scooping up the silver medal at the 2019 FIVB four-star event in The Hague.